Il presidente Zelenskyj in occasione della Giornata delle Forze Armate 2025: “Grazie a tutto il personale militare ucraino. A tutti gli eroi sui muri, che hanno difeso l’Ucraina e stanno come un muro”.

***Ukrainians!***

December 6th is a great day – a day of those who, bearing arms, prove Ukrainian strength: the Day of Ukraine’s Armed Forces. And it’s about those who truly unite our people in struggle, in gratitude, in memory, and, of course, in deep respect.

This respect of ours is expressed not just in support and prayers, not just in donations and words, which everyone will undoubtedly write today to their loved ones – the warriors each of us has.

This respect is about something bigger. It has become a unique phenomenon, a hallmark of the new Ukraine. This respect has become an art. And this respect surrounds us – in our cities, on our streets, in our homes. These are hundreds of images sprung up across Ukraine. Hundreds of dedications, carrying within them millions of “thank yous” to you, to you, Ukrainian warrior! And how important it is to truly see these murals.

How important it is, rushing through your day, to pause at least for a moment. To walk not past, but beside. To look into these paintings, into these eyes. To remember what they have done in the war for Ukraine’s independence. To value it. And for that, we must know. Know the story of each one of them.

The one who defended their native Kyiv and then flew to aid the besieged Mariupol. Or the one who grew up in Donbas and defended the capital. Who was a world-class jiu-jitsu medalist and became a defender of Ukraine. Who was a world-famous opera singer and became a Ukrainian warrior. And the one who was a jeweler, with what friends called golden hands, and used those hands to destroy the occupiers. Different fates. Same values. Different names. Equal honor to all. They grew up in different cities, different families, different homes, yet all were raised as true heroes.

And how much pride and pain coexist in this symbolism: they went to defend their native home – and today their portraits are on the walls of these homes. And on the schools, where they had different grades, but learned perfectly what are honor, courage, humanity, and love – love for their Ukraine.

Danylo Pohorilov knew it for certain, who was astigmatic in both eyes, yet saw who the enemy was and the evil. And his brothers-in-arms saw his courage when, at the cost of his life, he led his group out of encirclement.

Oleh Fadieienko knew it, who was more than two meters tall and known as “Malysh” to his brothers-in-arms. He liberated Kupyansk, Kherson, and became a Hero of Ukraine to his state.

And Dem, who fell in battle the day after his birthday. And Taras Bereziuk, who gave his life for freedom on Ukraine’s Independence Day.

And I know this for certain: one day, in peaceful Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Lviv – anywhere in Ukraine – a little child, seeing one of these portraits, will ask their parents, “Who is this?” And they will know what to respond; they will tell the story for certain, and it will happen again, and again, and it will be passed from generation to generation, because we will forever preserve this memory and respect for our warriors. For their principles, their qualities, their will, their strength, their perseverance. For all the finest virtues. And every such canvas, every color, shade, every stroke carries these stories. These deeds, these steps. You can feel it. You must feel it.

Feel how, in 2014, Vitalii Trukhan left university and went to the ATO zone. How, always on the forward line, Oleksii Ostapenko told his wife, “If not us, then who?” How Oleksii Movchan rescued 11 people and a cat from under the rubble. How Taras Chaika saved his crew, and now an auditorium at the national university bears his name.

💙💛